Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on…

John Steinbeck
483 citations
Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat. Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars. ✨ John Steinbeck (2009). The Short Novels of John Steinbeck: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition), p.344, Penguin
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